Maybe it was the whipping wind. Although it didn’t seem to stop the hoards of state and city workers from leaving their office buildings over lunch.

Many stared and smiled at the bright red Chef Ed’s LunchMOB parked on Walnut Street in Harrisburg. Few waited in line.

Owner Edward J. Monuteaux lamented about the lack of business. He had been off for three days because of a family matter. It was the height of lunchtime, 10 minutes past noon.

“I’ve made $16 today,” he said.

Still, the food truck — one of a growing number popping up around the midstate following a national trend — has potential. Its restaurant-quality menu is stacked with gourmet food-on-the-go such as steaming flavorful bowls of Asian hot pot, fish tacos, rice bowls and a potato-bacon-cheese tart under $8.

“My running joke on Facebook is no hot dogs. I’d rather sell the truck than make hot dogs every day,” Mounteaux said.

“You can get that anywhere. Go around the corner,” he said.

The long-haired Monuteaux at one time worked at Char’s Bella Mundo in Shipoke until he left in 2009. Last summer, he scouted out the box truck equipped with a six-burner range, deep fryer and steam table, on Long Island. He purchased it and drove it home.

He rolled out LunchMOB last month. It joins a growing list of mobile food vendors in the midstate.

It has been a bumpy ride for some of the vendors who have faced complaints, mostly from some city restaurant owners who say the trucks are taking away from their business.

The 25-foot long silver EZ Eatz truck parks over lunch in front of the Hilton Harrisburg selling hamburgers, cheese steaks and hot dogs. Several city street corners are occupied by hot dog cart vendors.

LunchMOB will remain parked 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays along Walnut Street near Strawberry Square. Mounteaux pays $13.50 a day for the metered space.

“A lot of restaurants are closing due to hot dog carts and vendors. It’s not fair we have to compete with each other, and we are struggling right now,” said Eric Roman, owner of 2nd Street Pizza in Harrisburg.

He has had a beef about the kitchens on wheels and hot dog vendors crowding him out of business. He doesn’t like the food trucks being able to pull into metered parking spaces over lunch, and he’s not happy about the hot dog vendors out at night

Roman said they have not heard a response from council, so several of them will meet Tuesday with Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson.

Harrisburg spokesman Robert J. Philbin said he hasn’t heard of any complaints about the vendors since last spring. Vendors operating in the city are required to have permits to operate.

As food trucks grow in popularity across the nation because of television shows such as “The Great Food Truck Race,” so have the number of complaints.

From New York City to San Francisco, food truck fights have erupted over everything from turf to trash and permits.

“I really want the city to allow us to operate and not have any vendors on the sidewalks or allow mobile trucks to rent meters and sell food on the sidewalks and give us competition,” Roman said.

At Arepa City Latin Eatery along the street, owner Daniel Farias said because the vendors are mobile and can capture the crowds at peak times, it puts the restaurant owners at a disadvantage.

“I just hope that we have a set of clear rules to follow. This is just the beginning. If we don’t set a nice precedent and establish a nice good set of rules to follow, there is going to be ... more trucks round here. It’s going to be worse,” Farias said.

Truck vendors like Mounteaux said he would be pretty upset if a truck parked in front of his restaurant. It’s why he chose the section of Walnut Street near the Capitol.

“I understand that gripe. They are no different than me being a restaurant. I pay taxes just like everyone else and the health inspection and mercantile license,” he said.

Plus, customers such as Ally Hubler of Wormleysburg enjoy the food. She ordered a rice bowl with shrimp and sausage from the LunchMOB truck.

“I know at the Rachel Carson building, it’s a pretty big buzz,” she said. “Cause it’s gourmet food coming out of a truck. It’s not hamburgers and hot dogs.”

Don Craven, who works at the state Labor and Industry Department, ordered the fish tacos. “I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “I think it’s neat to have some variety.”

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